In response to a new study that identified Southern California as a hot spot for manmade “forever chemicals” in drinking water, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors asked for an inventory of water districts in the county that are not testing for polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).
The motion by Fourth District Supervisor and Board Chair Janice Hahn, approved by a unanimous vote on Tuesday, July 25, directed the county’s departments of public works and health to ask the State Water Resources Control Board to assess contamination levels of PFAS, which are considered dangerous to public health, in 206 separate water districts and systems — and to ask for state and federal treatment dollars where needed.
“These forever chemicals don’t naturally break down in the environment and can build up in our bodies and cause serious health problems,” said Hahn in a prepared statement. “We need to know whether they are in our drinking water and at what concentrations so we can start putting together a plan to get them out.”
These lingering chemicals, around since the 1940s, have permeated nearly half of the tap water in the United States, according to a recent study by the U.S. Geological Survey. There are about 12,000 PFAS chemicals, which break down very slowly and can stay in soil, water and the human body for a long time and are nicknamed “forever chemicals.” They come from many sources, including nonstick cookware, fast food wrappers, foam used to douse forest fires, septic tanks, landfills and industrial releases.
A study in the August 2023 edition of Environmental International indicated that drinking-water exposures may be even more common in the Southern California region. That is in contrast with a Waterfilterguru.com survey which listed Los Angeles among cities with the lowest PFAS levels, of the cities tested.
PFAS exposure is linked to human development and immune disorders, obesity, thyroid diseases, liver damage and certain types of cancers,…
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